TV anchor fired over comments on black men

Pittsburgh anchor Wendy Bell has been fired from ABC affiliate WTAE for a recent Facebook post in which she used racially stereotypical language in talking about “young black men.”

“They are young black men, likely teens or in their early 20s,” Bell wrote. “They have multiple siblings from multiple fathers and their mothers work multiple jobs. These boys have been in the system before. They’ve grown up there. They know the police. They’ve been arrested. They’ve made the circuit and nothing has scared them enough. Now they are lost. Once you kill a neighbor’s three children, two nieces and her unborn grandson, there’s no coming back. There’s nothing nice to say about that.”

Bell’s 18-year tenure at the station ended today and the ABC affiliate issued a statement of its own: “WTAE has ended its relationship with anchor Wendy Bell. Wendy’s recent comments on a WTAE Facebook page were inconsistent with the company’s ethics and journalistic standards.”